Formation of Aurangabad diocese
Fr Gurien Jacquier arrived in the four-year-old Ghogargaon
mission centre in November 1896 and breathed his last in the same village five
decades later. From October 1915 to
January 1922, he had been on deputation to Rahata in neighbouring Ahmednagar
district. During his 50 years vocation as a missionary, Jacquirbaba took rest
and visited his motherland only once -
from 1926 to 1928 - when he was forced to slow down his work on health
grounds.
Jacquierbaba worked tirelessly for 40 long years in
Ghogargaon and Borsar mission centres. It was during this period that
Christianity took deep roots in Aurangabad district. It is significant to note
that the MSFS priests had been working in Amravati, Chikhaldhara, Akola,
Kapustalani and other parts of the Vidarbha region during this period. However,
due to various social, religious, political and economic factors, the work of
these Catholic missionaries in most of the areas was almost wiped out by the
time India gained Independence.
Fr Azarias D’Mello had taken charge of Ghogargaon in 1944.
In January 1951, Fr John D’Souza was sent to be his assistant. In May 1951, Bro
Ambrose came to help him. In May 1952, Fr Azarias D’Mello was transferred to
Achalpur. Fr Olivet Vas took charge of Ghogargaon with Fr Edwin Alvares as
assistant.
In 1948, the political situation in Nizam’s Hyderabad
princely state became tense. India had gained independence from the British
rulers on August 15,1947. But the Nizam
government in Hyderabad in Central India refused to join the Indian Union.
Efforts for a peaceful settlement failed. Economic sanctions were imposed by
the Indian government. According to the notes written by Fr Monteiro, the
blockade paralysed the mission activities. As a result, catechists and masters
were discharged and the children’s boardings were closed. At night fall, no one
went outdoors. The missionaries also could not go out.
On September 14, 1948 began the Police Action against the
Nizam state. Action was taken against
the Razakars, the special army of the Nizam. By September 18, the Hyderabad
princely state was taken over by the Indian Government and peace was restored.
The Police Action was planned by the then Union Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
In the meantime, many
of the discharged catechists had secured jobs in sugar factories and were not
prepared to return to their work and their small pays. The Scheduled Castes
Federation was very active and won many adherents form the converts, wrote Fr
Joseph Monteiro.
MSFS historian Fr Moget has dealt in details on the missionary
activities and the number of baptisms given to local people in the Vidarbha
region. However a glance at the statistics of the Catholic population in the
present Nagpur, Amravati and Aurangabad dioceses reveals that some of the
people converted to Christianity in the early 20th century have
embraced Buddhism along with other followers of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar in the
1950s and 1960s.
The factors responsible for the spread of Christianity in
Aurangabad district. its stunted growth or subsequent disappearance in some
parts of the Marathwada and also in the
neighbouring Vidarbha region can be well illustrated with the parable on the
seed of the Word of God narrated by Jesus Christ. The parable goes like this:
“A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some
fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air
devoured it. Some fell on rock: and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away
because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang
up and chocked it. But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a
crop a hundredfold.” 1
Even today, the number of Catholics in Gangapur and Vaijapur
talukas of Aurangabad district – the area where Fr Jacquier sowed the seeds of
the Word of God – is far more conspicuous as compared to the rest parts of the
Marathwada and for that matter, even the whole Vidarbha region. It would be
incorrect to solely credit Jacquierbaba for this. But the fact remains this was
the missionary who toiled for 40 years for the most downtrodden, the
untouchable folks of these two talukas and preached the gospel to them. He was
also the first social reformer in this rural area to spread literacy among local population of mixed
castes and religions. He had opened so many schools in villages under his
Ghogargaon mission centre. He also tried to various social evil practices like
untouchability, child marriages and bigamy.
It is difficult to believe that a great soul existed in this
small village which remains obscure to this date. He tried his best to
transform the lives of the whole population in this region. The large number of
tales associated with this Mahatma, as told by people even today with much
reverence to this missionary, are testimony of the great works carried out by
Jacquierbaba in this region.
Jacquirbaba traveled on horseback, in bullock cart or horse
cart to various villages which now come under the jurisdiction of the present
Ghogargaon, Borsar, Kannad, Vaijapur, Gangapur, Wahegaon parishes.
Fr Stephen Almeida is the present parish priest at the
Christ the King in Ghogargaon, a post held for four decades by Jacquierbaba.
Ironically Ghogargaon village to this
date remains inaccessible to the world in the absence of asphalted, motorable
road. The church parish runs a primary, middle and higher secondary school in
the village, attended by hundreds of Christian and non-Christian children from
neighbouring villages. The Holy Cross sisters who run a dispensary in the
village offer medical facilities to the rural populace here.
When Fr Jacquier arrived from France to work in India, the
then Nagpur province was entrusted to
his MSFS religious congregation. The Catholic Church has in the latter years
bifurcated this giant province into the present Nagpur, Amravati, Chanda and
Aurangabad (all in Maharashtra) Jabalpur, Khandwa, Raipur (Chhattisgarh) and
Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh). Each of this diocese are headed by an archbishop or
bishop.
During the past 100 years, the Missionaries of St Francis de
Sales (MSFS) of which Jacquirbaba was a member preached Christianity in the
then Central Province, Berar, and Marathwada. The MSFS congregation priests
purchased land, built on them schools, churches, dispensaries and hostels for
the girls and boys. Later the Catholic Church established new dioceses in these
areas and the secular or the diocesan priests under the new bishops started
working in this villages. In keeping with the Catholic Church tradition,
subsequently the MSFS congregation took a back seat and handed over the huge real
estates, schools, churches, hostels and other
establishments to the bishops, the heads of the newly created dioceses
in the respective areas.
Similar transfer also took place in the neighbouring Ahmednagar district after the Nashik diocese
was carved out of the Pune diocese in 1987. There, the Jesuits – members of the
religious congregation Society of Jesus -
handed over the land and institutions to the new diocese and shifted
their attention to work in the area where no one had trodden.
This novel tradition of handing over ownership of real
estate and reputed institutions to others exists only in the Catholic Church
and there cannot be any other parallel to this custom.
The diocese of Aurangabad was erected by the Decree 'Qui
Arcano' (No. 1139/78) dated December 1997. It comprises of eight revenue
districts. Of these, Aurangabad, Jalna, Parbhani and Nanded were taken from the
diocese of Amravati while Latur, Beed
and Osmanabad were detached from the archdiocese of Hyderabad. This entire
region under the Aurangabad diocese constitutes a political unit named
Marathwada in Maharashtra. Fr Dominic Abreo, a diocesan priest from Vasai in
Thane district who had presided over the seventh Marathi Christian Sahitya
Sammelan (literary meet) held in 1973 was appointed the first bishop of
Aurangabad diocese. Bishop Edwin Colaco who was appointed as bishop of Amravati
in 1995 has been bishop of Aurangabad diocese since 2007.
As per the statistics provided by the Catholic Bishops
Conference of India (CBCI), there are 16,000 Catholics in Aurangabad
diocese. As far as the Christian
(Catholic and Protestants) population and the number of Church establishments
are concerned, Aurangabad diocese is one of the most important dioceses in
Maharashtra, next only to Mumbai, Pune and Nashik dioceses.
Aurangabad Catholic diocese has 22 parishes. There are 15 high schools, one
higher secondary schools, 15 upper primary schools, 12 hospitals, nine hostels
and five orphanages. 2
References:
1)
Gospel according to St Mathew, 4:1-9,
2)
Directory of Aurangabad Catholic Diocese, published by Bishop’s House,
Aurangabad (2003)
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